The court of special judge, Assam, here on Wednesday sent Guwahati Medical College and Hospital doctor Manoj Kumar Baishya, who was arrested on Tuesday for accepting a bribe, to custody of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for two days.

Officials of the bureau, which is under the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption, Assam, on Tuesday afternoon arrested the doctor “red-handed”, while accepting a bribe from Haren Kumar, for issuing a post-mortem report for Rameshwar Prasad Sah, who passed away at the GMCH on October 19.The money was seized from the possession of Baishya.

The police also seized some incriminating documents, including the post-mortem report from Kumar.

According to Kumar, Manoj Baishya had demanded a bribe of Rs 12,000 on October 19 to issue the post-mortem report of his brother Rameshwar, and he even paid Rs 4,000, but was unwilling to pay the rest of the amount. Subsequently, Kumar approached the ACB police station here and lodged a complaint.

Based on the complaint, a case (13/2019) was registered under Section 7(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

According to sources, the ACB team apprehended Biashya while he was allegedly accepting Rs 8,000 from Kumar at the hospital.

Inspector-general of police (vigilance and anti-corruption), Anurag Tankha, told The Telegraph on Wednesday afternoon that this is the second such incident that has surfaced this year. Earlier, a similar incident was reported from Morigaon district.

“We have similar complaints of bribe being demanded by doctors for issuing medical reports in connection with police cases as well as accident insurance claim,” he said.

“We will interrogate him (Baishya) to find out how many such cases he was involved in. We would also urge the public to report any case they come across. We assure the people that we will take strict action against anybody involved in corrupt practices,” Tankha said.

He also shared a toll-free number to report such cases. “People can call the directorate on the toll-free number 18003453767 or the officer-in-charge of ACB police station at 9854032882, if they come across any corruption-related issue,” Tankha said.